Quality of life, functional outcomes, and wound complications in patients with soft tissue sarcomas treated with preoperative chemoradiation: a prospective study.

Background: Preoperative irradiation reduces local recurrence of soft tissue sarcomas (STSs), but major wound complication rates approach 25-35 %. Using a novel neoadjuvant chemoradiation protocol, we prospectively documented functional outcomes and quality of life (QOL) and hypothesized a lower major wound complication rate.

Methods: Patients with STS deep to muscular fascia were treated with 3 days of doxorubicin (30 mg/day) and 10 days of irradiation (300 cGy/day) followed by limb-sparing surgery.